Gen-Z, the generation born between the mid-1990s and the early 2010s, was the first to grow up as true digital natives with technology and social media as an integral part of their lives. Comprising 26% of the world’s population, it’s a generation known for being socially conscious, diverse, and accepting. As consumers, they are highly influenced by social media. And professionally, Gen-Z is helping to redefine how we work.
To understand how brands can effectively engage with this demographic as they become key decision-makers in the marketplace, Craig Corbett, co-founder and partner at Publicize, a digital communications agency that supports the PR, marketing, and communication efforts of tech startups, shared his insights.
Gary Drenik: Why do you think Gen-Z represents an important factor in today’s market consumption?
Craig Corbett: Brands have numerous compelling reasons to reassess their marketing strategies towards Gen-Z. Not only does this group now represent a large part of the population, but their spending power has grown as well, granting them the ability to impact the market in unprecedented ways.
Moreover, Gen-Z has been said to be recognized for its social awareness, making them more inclined to support brands that prioritize authenticity, transparency, and social responsibility. Consequently, they are assumed to be less likely to back companies that do not align with their values and beliefs, making it challenging for brands that are not operating sustainably to connect with this generation.
Today in 2023, Gen-Z also accounts for a quarter of the workforce. As more of this demographic reaches working age, their influence on corporate standards will hold more weight. They will also increasingly be responsible for company purchasing decisions. B2B marketing campaigns must speak to this demographic to effectively maintain sales of enterprise tools and software products, now and in the future.
Drenik: How can companies create genuine connections with Gen-Z consumers?
Corbett: The ability to forge an authentic connection couldn’t be more important for companies targeting Gen-Z buyers. The founding stories behind startups and companies need to focus heavily on the human element behind the brand to forge genuine customer loyalty, as well as showcase any initiatives related to sustainability or D&I initiatives.
When it comes to promoting actual products and services, it’s important to remember how much Gen-Z seeks connection and community online. For this reason, user-generated content that offers opinions on a product and how to use it performs extremely well for this demographic. Gen-Z is the influencer generation — they want to see people and brands they respect using these products before they’re persuaded to complete a purchase. For instance, when buying clothes, a recent Prosper Insights & Analytics survey revealed that 58% of Gen-Z stated that familiar labels are important to them.
Furthermore, since Gen-Z is the generation that interacts the most with social media, this actually serves marketing leads with a wealth of information on their likes, dislikes, and preferences. With rich, segmented data in hand, it’s possible to create highly targeted, hyper-personalized campaigns that cater to this digital-first generation.
Drenik: How can PR help companies build a strong brand identity that resonates with Gen-Zer’s preferences?
Corbett: While Gen-Z has a preference for conscious brands, they’re also highly perceptive. Although companies may be keen to show just how much they care about customers and employees along with their stance on key cultural trends, if these campaigns come across as money-driving initiatives it can do more harm than good.
For example, in response to an increasing number of brands joining Pride month initiatives, 13.7% of Gen-Z no longer wish to see LGBTQ+ issues presented in advertising campaigns. This doesn’t necessarily mean this segment doesn’t care about equality issues, but they’re tired of superficial corporate campaigns.
Here, PR agencies can step in to help their clients share impact initiatives and insights into company culture that won’t look contrived. Gen-Z wants to understand what your brand is about, but just switching up brand colors to match the theme of awareness month won’t win much favor with these buyers. Instead, Op-eds and thought leadership pieces that present a coherent and consistent message from leadership can communicate these values in an authentic manner.
Finally, while social issues hold some sway with Gen-Z, I’d also advise brands to make sure they don’t lose sight of the bottom line. This is a group largely driven by the dollar sign, so it’s important that social media and PR activities lean into any cost-saving or value-driving elements of a product or service to win out against competitors. According to a recent Prosper Insights & Analytics survey, 62% of this generation prefers to buy clothes when they are on sale.
Drenik: Why can PR be a powerful tool for companies looking to attract Gen-Z consumers?
Corbett: In many ways, Gen-Z is harder to target using “traditional PR” tactics as they typically consume traditional media channels such as TV at a much lower rate than previous generations.
As such, news outlets have become increasingly adept at working within the parameters of social media platforms. This means that traditional coverage on mainstream media will eventually filter down through to social media audiences. The most interesting opinions and engaging stories will inevitably perform well with news outlets and online readers.
However, social media and influencer marketing strategies should form the core tactic for PR campaigns targeting Gen-Z. Building powerful brand-influencer partnerships with stories made for mobile consumption are just a few ways to improve performance across social channels.
Finally, Gen-Z are also more likely to engage with social media campaigns that break the boundaries such as brands experimenting with immersive digital events and live events. Although these experiences exist online, they’re actually quite similar to traditional PR stunts at their core. In this way, we’re seeing some elements of PR strategy come full circle for the digital-native generation.
Drenik: Finally, how can you measure the success of a marketing campaign targeted at Gen Z and what metrics do you use?
Corbett: Gen-Z isn’t shy about sharing their honest opinions. Brands need to not only keep their ear to the ground across social channels to get a sense of public opinion, but also actively engage with target audiences through polls and live Q&As.
One of the biggest benefits of Gen-Zer’s preference for social channels is the rich data insights that brands can unlock. Additionally, platforms like TikTok and Instagram have built a number of features to support a spike in social commerce.
This means that brands can drill down into highly specific performance data to understand which products are most popular. Companies can also run campaigns to find optimal price points. As this demographic is very price-conscious, it’s a good idea to run competitions, referral bonuses or raffles. These not only help to drive awareness but can also be used as a way to encourage participation in your feedback surveys in exchange for a freebie or discount.
Drenik: Thanks, Craig, for taking the time to share your insights and expertise about the best ways to approach Gen-Z through PR and marketing.
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